The object of meditation isn’t to change ourselves, to throw out the old and bring in the new. It’s about making friends with ourselves, meeting each and every part of our lives with curiosity and compassion.
Frank Ostaseki, The Five Invitations
And belonging is our true nature.
Sebene Selassie, You Belong: A Call for Connection
This offering is an invitation to take a peak beneath our field of awareness so that we can begin to uncover how we are subordinate to our conditioning. This practice increases our capacity to choose how we want to live, how we want to respond to and engage with our inner and outer worlds. My hope is that it helps to cultivate a sense of connection, of belonging to our deeper selves and to each other. And inspires us to open our hearts, even just a little, so we may grow our voice, a voice that echoes the wisdom of our humanity. Perhaps this is a lot to ask of a poem. Nonetheless, we have to start somewhere.
There are four ways you can experience this poem:
1. Read it silently.
2. Read it out loud – my preferred mode as it is a more embodied experience.
3. Listen to me read it – close your eyes and let the words touch your heart.
4. Listen as I use this poem as a guided meditation – this is the first time I am using a poem in this way, so bring a curious and open mind.
Heart Space: A Meditation Poem
May you see that the crack in your heart
Is a way for your light to push on through.
Know there is nothing broken,
Your heart is simply opening
To illuminate the beauty of your truth.
Heart space. Breathe. Deep. Listening.
Heart space. Breathe. Release. Listening.
May you find the courage to rest in the unknowing,
Curiously aware of the moment unfolding,
Even as the mind gets lost in story after story.
Perhaps you grasp onto anything
Because it feels as if the ground is moving
All the while you are standing still.
Heart space. Breathe. Deep. Listening.
Heart space. Breathe. Release. Listening.
May you find time to sit at the altar of your heart
Where your light reveals the shadows that lurk.
With compassion as your guard,
The breath as your guide,
Take a closer look,
Be kind with what you find.
And in due time,
Let them dissolve into your
Loving awareness.
Heart space. Breathe. Deep. Listening.
Heart space. Breathe. Release. Listening.
© Wendy G. Heckert, January 2021
Featured Image – Photo by Christopher Beloch on Unsplash
This is amazing … just like you!!!
Absolutely beautiful Wendy. Thank you!